The presidential election of the human body: applying contextual learning to promote connections between the student and the curricular content

Using real-world situations to engage students in learning specific content is preconized by educational research as an effective strategy. However, motivating students to establish personal and emotional connections with the curricular content is challenging. We presented a didactic strategy named The presidential election of the human body, created to use the presidential election context to engage students in studying cell function and structure using role-playing and appropriation of scientific concepts. Four groups of students (N=124) of the science and mathematics teacher training program chose a cell of the human body to impersonate, they studied the biology of their cell, and they ran in a presidential election campaign. They created slogans, videos, and materials for their campaign, and on the day of the election, the group of the students voted for the best slogan. The didactic strategy was capable of stimulating the appropriation of the characteristics of the cells they represented. The majority (75%) of the elected candidates represented cells that are linked to the nervous system. Musicality and humor were the most frequent styles that appeared in the slogans. Students strongly agreed that they enjoyed the activity and considered it valuable for contextualizing the learning of anatomy and physiology. Thus, the activity is a didactic resource to stimulate the students to embrace the content they are learning in a contextualized momentum of a presidential election.

Practical Identity, Contingency and Humanity

Aim of this paper is to support the view that all human practical identities are contingent by arguing against the view that there is at least one necessary practical identity shared by all human beings, namely Humanity. The view that Humanity is a necessary practical identity is explicitly defended by Christine M. Korsgaard (Korsgaard, C. M. 1996. The Sources of Normativity, edited by O. O’Neill. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Korsgaard, C. M. 2009. Self-Constitution: Agency, Identity, and Integrity. New York: Oxford University Press) and indirectly by Marya Schechtman (Schechtman, M. 2014. Staying Alive: Personal Identity, Practical Concerns, and the Unity of a Life. New York: Oxford University Press). Korsgaard understands Humanity both in terms of pure self-legislation, and as deep sociality. In the first case, Humanity as self-legislation faces what I call ‘Existential dilemma’: either Humanity has specific content, typical of contingent practical identities, but stops being necessary for all human beings; or Humanity is emptied of its content and is conceived of as necessary self-legislation, but stops being a practical identity. In the second case, i.e., Humanity as deep sociality, Korsgaard confuses the necessary natural fact that human beings are social creatures, with contingent contexts of human socialization, which are the true sources of specifically human practical identities. I articulate this confusion in the guise of what I call ‘Nature/Nurture dilemma’, which also applies to the morally neutral account of human personhood advocated by Schechtman (Schechtman, M. 2014. Staying Alive: Personal Identity, Practical Concerns, and the Unity of a Life. Oxford University Press). In conclusion, I address the worry that without the necessary practical identity of Humanity we might not be able to extend our practical and moral concerns to distant fellow human beings by sketching an alternative path to extend such concerns.

Tissue-Specific Content of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in (n-3) Deficiency State of Rats

The dietary intake of fatty acids (FAs) affects the composition and distribution of FAs in the body. Here, a first-generation (n-3)-deficiency study was conducted by keeping young (age 21 ± 2 days) Sprague–Dawley male rats on a peanut-oil-based diet for 33 days after weaning in order to compare the effect of mild (n-3)-deficiency on the lipid composition of different organs and feces. Soybean-oil-based diet was used as a control. The plasma FA levels corresponded to FAs levels in the organs. Lower docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content was detected in the plasma, brain, testis, visceral fat, heart, and lungs of the (n-3)-deficient group, whereas the DHA content of the eye and feces did not differ between the experimental groups. The DHA content of the brains of the (n-3)-deficient group was 86% of the DHA content of the brains of the (n-3)-adequate group. The DHA level of the organs was affected in the order of visceral fat > liver triacylglycerols > lung > heart > liver phospholipids > testis > eye > brain, with brain being least affected. The low levels of (n-3) FAs in the liver, brain, eye, heart, and lung were offset by an increase in the (n-6) FAs, mainly arachidonic acid. These results indicate that, in rats, adequate maternal nutrition during pregnancy and weaning does not provide enough (n-3) FAs for 33 days of an (n-3)-deficient diet. Results of this study can be used also to evaluate the conditions needed to reach mild (n-3) deficiency in the first generation of rats and to evaluate the feasibility to collect data from a variety of organs or only selected ones.

EXPRESS: The Impact of Advertising Creative Strategy on Advertising Elasticity

This study provides a comprehensive assessment of the impact of Advertising Creative Strategy (ACS) on advertising elasticity, founded on an integrative framework which distinguishes between the Function (content) and the Form (execution) of an advertising creative. Function is evaluated using a three-dimensional representation of content (Experience, Affect, Cognition), whereas the representation of Form accounts for both executional elements and the use of creative templates. The distinction between Function and Form allows for the investigation of potential synergies between content and execution, previously unaccounted for in the literature. The ACS framework also facilitates the calculation of composite metrics that capture holistic aspects of the creative strategy, such as Focus, or the extent of the emphasis on a specific content dimension, and Variation i.e., changes in content and execution over time. The empirical application focuses on a Dynamic Linear Model analysis of 2251 television advertising creatives from 91 brands in 16 consumer packaged goods categories. The findings suggest that in terms of Function, experiential content has the biggest effect on elasticity, followed by cognitive and affective content. Function and Form produce synergies that can be leveraged by advertisers to increase returns. Finally, Focus, Variation and the use of templates increase advertising elasticity.

The Influence of Parental Involvement on Parent Satisfaction: The Moderating Effect of Parental Educational Level and the Number of Children

With the change in the location of school education from the classroom to the home during the COVID-19 outbreak, there should be more educational caregiving from children’s parents when children learn online. Parental involvement in children’s online learning including study guide and psychological counseling is the specific content of educational caregiving, which is different from face-to-face learning. More attention should be paid to parental involvement and parents’ satisfaction with the online learning effect. This study therefore conducted a survey on middle school students’ parents to establish a moderating model, exploring the influence of parental involvement on parent satisfaction, and the number of children and parental education level as the moderator variables influencing parental involvement. The results show that there is a significant positive correlation between parental involvement and satisfaction, while the parental education level and the number of children both have a moderating effect on the relationship between parental involvement and parent satisfaction. The moderating effect of the education level of parents shows negative, while the moderating effect of the number of children is positive. An interesting finding is that the number of children has a very low influence on parental involvement.

Experiment in creating professionally oriented materials for teaching English to international law students

The study presents results of many years of research and analysis into the process of creating core textbooks and teaching materials aimed at developing linguistic, communicative and professional competences inherent in the future professional activities of International Law students. When creating language learning materials with a focus on a particular profession (e.g. English for Law Students), it is important to proceed from the nature and specific content of day-to-day activities surrounding the future job of a student. Detailed analysis of legal documents and professional activities that International Law students may be involved in in the future allows to gauge the necessary level of English grammar and vocabulary that needs to be attained. The process also points out what specific language and communication skills (e.g. negotiation, persuasion, etc.) as well as professional competencies may be required. Since core textbook for learning English written by native speakers are very generic and, naturally, do not aim at achieving the level of English language, communication and professional skills required by those specializing in International Law, we find it of vital importance to create a series of very niche textbooks for achieving these goals. The present study allows us to determine the structure and content of core textbooks and to create a system of grammar and lexical exercises as well communication tasks aimed at acquiring specific grammar and conversational skills within a short period of time. Of particular mention here too is mastering debating skills, which is paramount for International Law students. This again can only be achieved by creating very narrowly focused materials that will introduce these skills gradually.

Systematic literature review on university website quality

Website is a necessity for organizations to enable users worldwide to access their information and gain a competitive edge over others. The diversity of websites makes assessing website quality a difficult task. The aim of this paper is to identify the issues faced in the quality evaluation of university websites, the models and the factors used for evaluating university website quality. Systematic literature review was used to identify and synthesize related scholarly research papers. Findings show that there is a lack of study on university website quality compared to business websites; website designers did not have the appropriate knowledge on the interface design; and the website quality evaluation is complex since there is no specific evaluation model. Webqual 4.0 model was used to evaluate the quality of universities' websites. From 24 studies, initially 79 quality factors were extracted. After performing comparison, filtration and memoing, six quality factors were identified: information quality, specific content, usability, web appearance, service interaction quality, and functionality. This study makes a useful contribution in developing university website quality model by extending the Webqual 4.0 model.

proposal for developing mathematics self-study capabilities in Vietnam highschool

In terms of general learning and Mathematics study, in particular, self-study ability is a fundamental element to promote learning efficiency. The research objective focuses on Proposing specific measures for developing the math self-study ability of high school students. Secondly, the research result reveals 5 methods for developing math self-study ability of high school students in Vietnam, including (1) Fostering motivation, attitude, sense of self-study, nurturing passion and forming knowledge about Math self-studying for students through field trips or extra-curricular activities; (2) Applying objective tests as a tool to examine and evaluate students' self-study at home; (3) Training and developing students' self-instructed math skills in terms of finding and reading documents of the specific content of Mathematics and skills in listening, communicating and taking notes in class; (4) Designing and organizing for students learning activities in the direction of practising scientific research; (5) Fostering and improving student’s self-assessment skills, mistakes correction after each process of studying a specific content. The final part of the study will discuss several issues and solutions that need to be considered when putting these teaching Mathematics measures into practice at Vietnamese high schools.

Diabetes Knowledge: What Do College Students Know

This study investigates students' knowledge about diabetes, with a focus on academic disciplines and gender. Data were collected from 218 students enrolled at a large public university. Descriptive statistics were employed, and factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed. The results showed that, while participants seemed to have some knowledge about diabetes, they generally lacked specific content information about the disease. Female students outperformed male students in diabetes knowledge. Rehabilitation counselor educators can offer an invaluable service by covering the topic of diabetes in their courses and curricula. They can consider incorporating specific information about diabetes that can better prepare students as rehabilitation counseling professionals and informed citizens, while ensuring that male and female students have the same level of diabetes knowledge.

THE MAIN INDICATORS OF INDICATIVE PLANNING IN THE ECONOMIC BLOCK OF THE REGIONAL DIGITAL ECONOMY

The article examines the main approaches to developing the system of indicators for indicative planning in the economic block of digital economy in modern conditions, including the regional level. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that indicative planning for the digital economy development is an important component of regional and federal government systems. The purpose of the research is to study the existing and to form the author's approach to determining the essence and specific content of the system of indicators for indicative planning the development of the digital economy at various levels of public administration, the specifics of implementation at the regional level. In the theoretical aspect, the results obtained will contribute to further development of theory and methodology in indicative planning and digital economy. In practical terms, they can be used to improve and develop existing planning systems in the Russian Federation. In the course of the research, the main indicators characterizing the level of digital economy development were proposed and their analysis was carried out in respect to the Russian Federation. The use of the proposed indicators' system as an integral part of digital economy indicative planning will make it possible to effectively achieve the planned states of socio-economic systems in the conditions of increasing international competition, digitalization and informatization of the society.